Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is a time effective technology to install product pipelines underneath obstacles such as river and road crossings, etc.

HDD rigs were initially developed in USA in 1970s for hydrocarbon pipeline installations underneath rivers. Since then, they have been used extensively to install a wide range of utilities, conduits and pipelines under highways, water bodies and environmentally sensitive areas. This has been made possible by the time effectiveness of this technology in almost any soil condition except loose gravel. Loose gravel provides a challenge for HDD because of difficulty in maintaining the reamed holes, which can be up to 150% of the product pipeline size. Even then, by using certain bentonite polymers, this difficulty can be overcome to a certain degree. In hard rock conditions, specialized attachments like mud motors can be used to install product pipelines.

Depending on size of crossings, HDD systems have been developed in two size ranges.
1. Mini and midi systems for small diameter and small length utility installation purpose in urban environment. Usually, the drill unit is mounted on tracks, thereby, permitting mobility and ease of use.

2. Large HDD rigs for long installations (lengths longer than 500m) and large diameter pipes (diameters greater than 400 mm). These rigs are technologically much more advanced and require in depth knowledge of the use of bentonite slurry to maintain the reamed holes, for successful installations.

Our Services
We offer complete EPC service for your projects including –

• Project planning – Site investigation and design calculations
• Selection of right equipment and tooling for the job
• String preparation of the final product line – welding, non destructive testing, pre and post hydrotest, etc.
• Horizontal directional drilling
• Quality control

And all this while maintaining international safety standards and with minimal effect to surrounding environment.
Your Solutions

• Installation of hydrocarbon pipelines across obstacles in a time effective manner. E.g., Narmada canal crossing in Barmer – Salaya Pipeline project for Larson & Toubro.
• Installation of optic fiber & electric cables in urban areas where surface disruption is not an option. E.g., several projects executed by us for telecom companies like Vodafone, Aircel, etc.
• Installation of utilities like gravity sewers, etc. in urban areas while maintaining the correct gradient level using state of the art tracking systems. Grades up to 0.1% are possible using state of the art electronic multi frequency wireless tracking systems capable of pitch readings in 0.1% increments. E.g., Sewerage project executed by us for Delhi Jal Board.
• Installation of product pipelines through continuous rocky ground strata. Our company has expertise in mud motors for pilot hole drilling in such cases.
• Installation of conduits through hills/mountains or installation of pipelines across salt water rivers where normal ground tracking systems cannot be used. For these scenarios, our company has expertise in precision underground magnetic guidance systems which don’t require any surface tracking support.
• Long crossings using intersect bore method and magnetic guidance systems.

For detailed information on our HDD projects and capabilities, please go to the concerned unit’s page –
Water & Sewer Unit
Hydrocarbon Pipeline Unit
Optic Fiber & Electric Cable Unit